Red Head
by Nispedana
Summary: Fem! Sakuragi. A story about a certain hot-headed teenager, her dislike for basketball, and... her life with basketball players...?
1. Hanamichi

**WARNING: **OOC especially for the first chapters.  
**DISCLAIMER: **I WISH I own Slam Dunk  
**JAPANESE WORDS:  
**|_Baka _or_ Ahou_ = Idiot | _Oyaji_ = Father (masculine) | _Shikuso _= Sh*t | _Okaa-san_ = Mother | _Teme_ = Bastard| _Urusai _= Shut up | _Onii-san/ nii-san _= Older Brother (Feminine) |_Kitsune _= fox | _Sensei _= Teacher/coach| _Tadaima _= I'm home|

* * *

…

* * *

_**PROLOGUE**_

_It was inside a large newly-built gymnasium that was going to be used, for the first time, as the basketball team's practice location. It was built in honor for the team's achievement, anyway, for maintaining their status as one of the best in the nation for more than a decade straight. Squeaks made by expensive basketball __ shoes_ against the professionally waxed floor and incessant dribbles engulfed the area. 

_And yet... they were really just background noise- er, music- in contrast to the coach's big mouth.  
_

_"Ora, Ora!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, and the gym (as noisy as it already was) turned silent. "What the hell is with that pace? How do you expect to return to defense at that speed?" she yelled at the flinching point guard. He was a sophomore and the team's top guard. They all had high expectations of him, particularly their 'genius' coach, so he had to work harder than most of his teammates.  
_

_She turned to the players who were practicing shootings. They were getting about 1 every 3 shots. Who cared if they were freshmen?  
_

_"You two brats! Practice shooting 50 times a day. If you don't get at least 2 every 3 shots by next week than you will drink a pitcher of my very healthy vegetable juice, understand?"_

_The two paled and immediately ran to practice. The people who heard whispered in incredulity.  
_

_The coach was being extremely strict as they had heard, but seeing it for the first time was something else felt like by the time they finished, they would no longer have any energy for class. The coach was already in her late twenties, but the atmosphere made her look older. It was odd that, even when no one admitted it, she was actually pretty good-looking. Her shiny long red-hair was really graceful and she did have distinctively good facial features.  
_

_They heard she had replaced Anzai a few years back, but were all aware that she was not short from qualified. She had been famous in the basketball world, and everyone knew her- including her... predispositions, and it was the reason no one was really surprised at all the yelling. Many of the senior players, who already knew her personally very well, were worried though. _

_Very worried.  
_

_A boy with a smile plastered in his face watched their unusual coach with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety. "Don't you think that if she doesn't calm down, she'll undergo miscarriage?"  
_

_"Shhh! Don't say that!" His teammate, a meek yet very masterful player, exclaimed in aghast. The two of them shivered when the felt daggers getting thrown at them.  
_

_"She's looking here, isn't she?"  
_

_"Don't look! Pretend we didn't say any-"  
_

_"Busy gossiping, eh?"  
_

Gulp

_"Twenty laps in 5 minutes."_

_"EH?"  
_

_"Or do you want to drink the vegetable juice without even trying?"  
_

_They flinched. There wasn't much of a choice. Even when they were going to end up drinking it, the words 'I give up' was taboo.  
_

_They let out a deep _deep_ breath and gestured for the imminent run.  
_

_What a sadistic coach they had...  
_

_But they all respected her anyway.  
_

_...  
_

_Hanamichi watched team with pride. They were working hard weren't they? She chuckled internally.  
_

_But then, her hand found her stomach... and she held her growing baby lightly.__'_You're working hard, too, ne?'_ she smiled. But then her team suddenly stopped what they were doing and they stared star-struck at the door. She whipped her head semi-irritably to wherever they were looking._

_"It's really him!"  
_

_"Oh my-"  
_

_"He's so cool..."  
_

_Hanamichi on the other hand, remained silent. Surprised, but willing herself to hide it. Her husband turned to her and smiled lightly, making her want to run to him.  
_

_"Tadaima."  
_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Hanamichi**

SHOHOKU HIGH

A red-headed girl passed by the gates and her presence easily caught everyone's attention. She was tall- very tall- and she wore a very serious look on her face as if she was ready to eat anyone's face off. The fact that she was followed by four gruff-looking boys with a similarly intimidating auras made her delinquent-look even fiercer.

She had her hands inside her pockets and her skirt was a little below the knee- much longer than average, and her pony tailed red hair followed her movements with grace that did not suit her reputation. Everyone stared guardedly at the group, with many just getting out of her way.

She did have an above-average face, though, but was covered up by her easily-irritated aura, quantified by her deep auburn eyes that inherently emitted killing intent.

Murmurs were heard. Most of the new students there did not know her, but those who _did_ certainly couldn't react calmly.

"T-That's Sakuragi Hanamichi!"

"That's _her_!"

"Why is she going _here_? It could be nothing but trouble."

"Why? She doesn't look that... deadly."

"I've heard of her before- and her group. They supposedly had never been defeated in a gangster fight even when they were outnumber 5-to-one"

"No way!"

And with that, three of the gang's members tried their best to stifle their proud grins.

"Pfft- we're famous." The smallest and chubbiest one with glasses, Takamiya Nozomi, grinned. His smirk was replaced by a frown when someone pounded his head. It was the tall self-imposing blonde Ohkusu Yuji who cost him the pain, and they quickly entered a glaring contest. Noma Chuichiro, on the other hand, was admiring his sports mustache and surprisingly rationalized Ohkusu's actions. He stared at their chubbiest member.

"Baka. Don't look happy- it would diminish the 'cool' aura our group has." Ohkusu nodded in agreement, and Nozomi blinked in realization.

"Ah." Nozomi nodded in assent. "That's right. Sorry."

And the three's 'walk of pride' continued for a little while longer.

But Mito Youhei, Hanamichi's best friend, on one hand… sighed at his friends' stupidity. How could they call themselves 'cool' when everyone was looking at them in fear and distaste? He looked at the indifferent Hanamichi, and somehow entered a hopeful daze. They were in High School now, a new era in their lives… hopefully. He wondered what would happen in their three years at the new school? Would Hanamichi finally grow up?

Thankfully, even with her boredom and current lack of purpose she didn't go around looking for romance like most people her age did. She focused on her fighting- especially since she was a girl, the physical differences got more and more pronounced as they grew up. Mito wondered how she'd feed her boredom if she was a guy, though...

Mito was, in reality, waiting for her to stop wasting her epic perseverance on useless things. Like, say, convincing herself that she hated something when it was the total opposite.

_Anyway_, they continued their so-called 'cool' walk towards their respective classrooms. He and Hanamichi were in class 1-A, while the other three on who-cares-where. They entered a dramatic goodbye scene that placed bumps on all of their foreheads, after getting head-butted by the annoyed Hanamichi.

"What was that for?"

"Urusai." She said and stomped to a random chair beside the window, she aimed for the farthest seat.

Her minions looked over the door sill with interest. "Doesn't she seem to be in an even worse mood than usual?" Nozomi whispered to no one in particular. It was Mito, as always, who answered their questions.

"Yuko-basan delayed her flight home again."

"D'aww…" Yuji smiled and stifled a smug chuckle. "Hana-chan really has a soft spot doesn't she?"

Hanamichi's ears twitched- hearing the statement, and she robotically whipped her head towards her minions making them lose all blood in their faces. Her eyes glowed in anger and she stomped towards them to beat them up.

"EEEK!"

"Yuji, you idiot!"

"I'm so sorry!"

"If I die and you don't I am so going to haunt you."

Yuji cried. "I SAID I'M SORRY DIDN'T I! ?"

But then when the monster was just a few steps away from them, she paused her steps and glared back at her target seat. She only turned her back for a second and it was already _taken._ Freaking TAKEN.

And her eyes widened in annoyance when the bastard leaned down to sleep.

"Teme- don't put saliva on my desk!"

The boy lifted his head and uttered lazily, "Hn?"

Her eyes twitched. Even if he did have a gorgeous… somewhat familiar, face- he annoyed her to no end.

"Get off my seat."

"It's not like your name is writt- zzzzzz…"

Steam exited from her ears and she gritted his teeth. "Why you-"

Nozomi started eating his emergency popcorn as Hanamichi attempted to overturn the table. But then a wall of girls suddenly went between her and the guy. "Don't touch Rukawa-sama ,you witch!"

"_Haa_?" she uttered, and then frowned. She did not look those misplaced haughty expressions on their faces. She glared at them, making every one of them shiver. But their wall did not budge. A wall made by a pack of fan girls hand-in-hand were next to indestructible, after all.

"Retreat, Hanamichi! Retreat!" One of the idiots yelled from behind the door, using it as some sort of shield.

She glared at them, but winced slightly at an old man right behind them making them lose their footings in surprise. The students all went back to their seats and she begrudgingly settled with the second to the last seat. This would have to do.

For _now_.

The class was basically an introduction session and she fell asleep on most of them, with Mito throwing paper balls at her when the teacher was close to noticing. She just woke up and batted all the lethargy away when the teacher approached her direction.

For a moment there she was going to glare him off, when he took out his fan and hit the person behind her.

"Itte…" he muttered massaging his head. "What the hell old man?"

A vein popped the teacher's head, but flinched in fear immediately- probably getting glared off himself. He quickly pointed out the door as sternly as he could. "S-STAND OUT THE DOOR RUKAWA KAEDE!"

She heard a soft screech of the chair and a yawn. She could see from her peripheral view that the teacher shook, and the boy nonchalantly headed to the door. It was odd, she thought he'd actually beat the teacher up. She certainly felt that atmosphere, but in the end, she shrugged. She stood up and took the seat that she wanted.

"Weirdo." She whispered, twitching at the fact that the seat was still warm. The teacher whipped his head to her.

"I didn't mean you." She added and the teacher stomped back to the front, she looked at Yohei who was stifling a laugh. "You certainly are though."

_Silence_

"SAKURAGI HANAMICHI - GET** OUT**!"

…

_SLAM!_

"Che." She muttered and looked at her side. Rukawa was there standing outside, sleeping alone on the vast corridor. She sighed and knew she'd be bored so she decided to walk around- and maybe go to her favorite spot in buildings: the rooftop.

She walked and walked farther and farther away from the classroom.

So it didn't explain why she ended back to where she came from.

"You've been passing by here four times, now, Baka."

Her eyes twitched. "Urusai. Go back to sleep, ahou."

"Whatever." And he did just that.

Her eyes twitched, and out of anger she decided to jump out the window. They were just in the second floor, anyway, and fortunately there was a tree she could hang out on.

"Eh…"

"Nani?"

"That looks like a good spot to sleep on."

"Oi, oi. You could sleep anywhere. This is my territory now." She frowned. "And aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"

He jerked for an instant, and something told her he was hiding something. But she forgot that she could think when he started insulting her. "It's interesting to see you break your bones out of stupidity."

Her eyes jerked (again) and she instinctively climbed up higher in a vain attempt to ignore him when Rukawa jumped to the tree from the window as well. He yawned and lay back down making her growl. She was not in a good mood that day, and he certainly wasn't making anything feel better.

But as she planned on jumping to his branch and injure him deeply, the bell rang and she looked up by reflex. She saw the rooftop. But considering her accursed sense of direction, she needed to take a shortcut so she decided to climb up the tree.

"_KYYYYAAAAAAAA!"_

Soon enough, she heard screams of terror from below. She scoffed and continued her way up.

"R-Rukawa-sama! Wake up you might fall!"

"KYAA! Rukawa-sama!"

"Stay safe!"

"KYAAAA!"

More and more screams resounded all the way to her, and she groaned irritably at the noise. She quickly jumped to the window sill of the highest floor. It wasn't hard since there was a branch nicely placed so that the transfer to cement was effortless. But the moment she looked at the floor, she stiffened. There was two boys who was rudely gaping at her.

"Wha-" a boy with honey-colored hair and glasses shivered, while his gigantic companion caught his composure immediately and begun to nag her.

"Didn't you know that was dangerous, girl? And are you a freshman?"

"Hai."

"Sugoi." the boy with glasses said, staring at her. "You sure are tall…"

"That's beside the point, Kogure."

He smiled. "Hai, Akagi. But isn't it true?"

"Who are you two anyway? Megane and Gorilla?"

_Twitch_

"That is no way to speak to upperclassmen!" Gorilla clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Kogure jumped back in surprise before attempting to get ahold of the situation.

"A-Akagi, calm dow-" he said, but he was cut off by the arrival of a familiar girl.

"Nii-san?"

They all whipped their head towards the sweet voice, and Hanamichi's eyes widened. She was a small and very pretty girl of deep auburn hair. She had a demure air to her and she looked like a really nice girl. Hanamichi didn't even notice the two girls she was with.

She looked at Gori (who the girl seemed to be talking to), and Hanamichi could not believe what she was hearing. She scratched her ears to check her hearing.

"Eh… it's the first time I saw nii-san speak with a girl so friendly."

"We are not friends!" they yelled in simultaneity, making the girl step back and chuckle awkwardly.

"G-Gomen."

Hanamichi calmed down and embarrassedly scratched her head. "I'm sorry for yelling."

And the girl smiled, making Hanamichi blink. She had never met a girl that wasn't scared of her from the get-go, and now even when she yelled at her... the girl seemed to _still_ be fine with her. For some reason, she turned on her chibi-mode and stiffened in seriousness.

"Ne." she said and the girl stared at her in innocent anticipation. "I like you. Wanna be friends?"

_Silence _

The girl beamed. "Okay!"

And with that- everyone paled.

"_EHHHH?_"

…

Everyone stared at Akagi Haruko. One of her two friends, one with the big mouth looked at them alternatively in fear. She ran to Haruko's side and started whispering.

"She's a famous delinquent Haruko! D-Don-" she squeaked when she caught Hanamichi, who had a strong sense of hearing, glaring her to death. The girl stepped back and hid behind their other meek-looking friend, while Akagi (the brother) massaged his forehead and started speaking with his sister like the mother-hen that he could be.

"_Haruko_." He said. "Don't befriend these types of idiots! It could be contagious."

Hanamichi sighed, and looked alternatively at the Akagis. "I still can't believe she's your sister. Are you two really related? Pfft-" She snickered a laugh. "Maybe you got adopted from the zoo."

Akagi's eye twitched. "Why you-"

Kogure quickly went in between. He had never seen Akagi get so easily annoyed, this girl really had the talent in getting to people's nerves. "Ahahaha. Akagi…"

"Stay away from this Kogure."

"But be patient." He said and walked towards the bulky man to whisper something. Hanamichi frowned, and sharpened her hearing a bit more.

"She could be a great addition to the female basketball team." Her eyes widened, and as if on cue- Haruko walked near hear and started awing her height.

"Sugoi. You're so tall. Are you going to be a basketball player?" Haruko asked innocently, and all of them flinched at the darkening of her expression.

"H-Hanamichi-san?" the girl stuttered and Hanamichi swiftly let out a deep breath in order to calm herself. She did not want to appear scary in front of her. But... this is _basketball._

_The thing that she hated the most.  
_

She shifted her intensifying gaze towards the boys and pointed at them rudely. "Let me get this straight, you two are basketball players?"

Kogure nodded, while Akagi 'hmped' in annoyance.

"I hate you two already."

She quickly turned to Haruko, thinking that maybe she would hate her too since she was related to Gori, whom she disliked. "I don't hate you though." She corrected, but Haruko did not look relieved. In fact, she looked guiltier than ever.

"But…" she whispered. "I'm a basketball player, too."

_CRACK!_

Something shattered, and Hanamichi felt her legs give in in despair.

And there she thought she _finally_ earned a female friend...

"_**Noooooooooooooo!**"_

.  
.

**END OF CHAPTER 1**

_**Coming Soon:  
**_**CHAPTER 2: Lethargy**

Would Hanamichi choose his stubborness over a friend? Why was Rukawa being odder than usual?  
Or was it that they had met before...?**  
**

* * *

**...**

* * *

**Thank you for reading! I would love to hear what you thought, as well. :D  
**


	2. Lethargic

**Thank you for reading! Special thanks to those who reviewed, faved, and C2d this story~! I really appreciate the time. :D  
**A/N: *sigh* I honestly thought I was the first one to make a fem! Sakuragi fic lol. Oh well... Hope readers liked this, anyway!

**DISCLAIMER: **I WISH I own Slam Dunk

* * *

…

* * *

**CHAPTER 2: Lethargic**

SHOHOKU

**_BAM!_**

Akagi hit her head to shut her up.

"ITTE! That's sexual harassment you idiotic basketball-gorilla!"

Kogure sweat-dropped. "Oi, Oi…" directed to both of them. He whipped his head around and, noticing the crowd they attracted, asked the audience to please get back to whatever they were doing. It was then that his eyes ended to young Haruko, staring at the mysterious red-head in worry.

"Demo…" Haruko intervened. "Why do you dislike basketball players?"

_Silence_

Hanamichi mentally shook whatever attacked her and pointed rudely at Gori. "I'm sorry he's your brother, but don't you think what he just did was hateful? Hitting a woman, and Sakuragi Hanamichi no less!" She exclaimed as if it answered everything.

Gori's eyes twitched. "You're not a woman, ahou. You're a monkey."

"Mou- Nii-san..."

"_Akagi_." Kogure seconded the reaction. _You're not helping with the recruitment process!_ He mentally yelled, when-

_Staaaaaaaaare_

"W-What is it?" Kogure flinched at the girl who was glaring him down. Her eyes jerked.

"If you're thinking of recruiting me, then I'm outta here." She stated and turned around. Kogure and Haruko opened their mouths to try and convince her, but it was too late.

And... she jumped down the window again.

"S-Sakuragi-san!" they yelled and ran to the window. Both of them lost their footing when they saw her safe and sound… and went all the way to the ground. She stomped to the gate and did not even bother turning back.

She was going to cut classes, wasn't she...?

* * *

Hanamichi found herself in a random alley way in the city of Atsugi, after hours of wondering around. She was pulled out her trance by whistles and it was from a gang of 3.

"Nee-san, you seem lost. Wanna hang out with us for a while?" One said, and the other snickered. The other had his eyes narrowed at her red hair. She didn't take her eyes off the ground in seriousness. She was not in a good mood.

It didn't take long for the last guy to recognize her. "Red hair... *gulp* C-Could it be t-that famous middle school girl?"

"She looks high school now." One said, eyeing her rudely. She didn't bother flinching. The final guy scoffed with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"If so, then she probably graduated."

"Eh… lucky little girl, aren't you?"

They stood up and surrounded her- and circled around as if they were a pack of wolves and she was the sweet little rabbit. The metaphor was disconcerting in itself, and their pompousness was making everything worse. For _them._

She sighed and placed her hand on her pockets, tapping her feet to ready them for action. She then looked up and stared at them, making them wince at the sight of her intimidating eyes. They quickly caught their composure and acted even more arrogant to mask their fear.

Instinctively (and for the sake of their prides) they went in for an attack- at the same time.

Hanamachi remained cool and watched them approach her as if they were going at it in slow motion. She gracefully avoided a punch, kicking him straight on the gut. She used the momentum from one kick to fuel another and knock the other one out. The last one, as he was the smallest, was finished off with a head-butt. The first one she hit got up but used an upper-cut as a finale.

And so… not even a minute later, the alleyway was covered with the half-dead trio's bodies. She just stood there for who knew how long- after getting reminded of that blasted sport, she started thinking of why she was doing this in the first place.

Then she remembered. And a strong fighting aura of annoyance surrounded her.

Unbeknownst to her, her gang had arrived a few minutes prior. "Uwaaaaa… Sakura sure is angry."

"She wasn't _this_ angry when she was sent outside…" Mito whispered in contemplation, and Ohkusu recalled a few rumours.

"I heard that she jumped from the 3rd floor."

Noma, with his precious mustache, added "She used a tree though."

Nozomi chuckled. "But looking at her now, somehow I think she'd be fine even without the tree."

"A true red-headed monkey." Nod, nod. Mitp froze a millisecond earlier than them though.

_Crack_

They shivered and whipped their heads towards it source. It was Hanamichi, unsurprisingly, already a meter away from them and was pressing her knuckles.

"I can hear you, you know." She mumbled- and they could feel the killing intent strong. They could only gulp for their lives. And with one devilish change in expression, they- "_EEEKKK!_"

Squeaked.

*An hour later*

Sakuragi Hanamichi walked home alone, as all the men were unconscious. She sighed. She knew she was harsh, but her temper got the better of her again. There was also the fact that she was having an extremely bad day, too.

_How tiring..._ she thought, passively kicking a pebble out of the way. She really wanted to just lie down in the middle of nowhere and wake up when the world was a less infuriating place. But then-

_Clank_

She stopped her steps and looked at where she was going when she heard a little metallic noise. It was a bike- and she saw it was Rukawa.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, and he remained stoic. He pointed at a name plank.

It said 'Rukawa Residence'.

She whistled eyeing the house. He lived in a huge one, that Rukawa.

"What about you?"

She shrugged. "Dunno."

He lazily looked at her from head to toe. "You look bad."

She looked at herself- her uniform was unharmed but she had a lot of wounds- particularly on her leg area. She never used her hands in a fight for… various reasons she would rather not recall for now.

"I always look this way." she sneered and Rukawa's expression did not change.

"Then, you always look bad. Ahou."

Her eye twitched. "Urusai."

Well, that's what she said.

So… she had no idea how she ended up inside his house and was currently drinking tea (not provided by him, but by a familiar looking old woman) as he took something out. She was asked to wash her wounds as he ordered her to, though.

She did not like getting ordered around, but that was somewhat of an exception. For some reason… she didn't quite mind. She sat and looked around. That house was really something- the inside was design contemporarily, but the colors chosen gave off a really warm welcoming feeling. She knew this, yes, for her mother's an Architect and Interior Designer.

It didn't take long for Rukawa to emerge with a medical kit. It wasn't a normal first aid kit, too- it looked more advanced.

"My parents are doctors." He said, answering her unvoiced questions. She stared at him as he readied the cotton and the solution.

"So I'll assume you know what you're doing."

"Hn."

"So are you going to be a doctor, too?"

"Probably."

"But do you want to?" she asked and he paused... unconsciously increasing the pressure on her wound.

She sat aback in surprise. "Oi, Oi. I'm not used to seeing your eyes a wider than usu- Ouch!" she yelled as he wiped the solution onto one of her wounds. He remained quiet though, and didn't talk afterwards for fear of what he might do to her wounds.

"D'Ahou."

"_Haaa?"_ Where did that come from?

She watched him as he put on the band-aids rather skilfully. Hanamichi didn't ask why he was doing this- she assumed that the doctor blood was _literally_ at work. That was, she assumed that if he saw injured people he would automatically go to doctor-mode.

But the oddest thing about everything was… she was having strong sense of déjà vu.

He stretched when he finished. And she mumbled a _very_ silent thank you that was, unfortunately, audible enough for him to hear. He did not say anything, nor smiled, and looked up to catch her eyes.

"D'Ahou." He stated but she did not retaliate. The Déjà vu was too strong. He did not look back to her and just sat on the couch as if nothing happened.

"Don't think I forgive you for stealing my seat though." She added stubbornly, keeping her cool and half-waited for him to say something…

"Hm."

That was not-

"D'Ahou."

And he fell asleep.

* * *

SAKURAGI RESIDENCE, an hour later

Hanamichi said her 'tadaima' upon opening the door. It had been a habit for most people in her country, the difference was that no one usually welcomed her home. She passed by their average little corridor full of photos and she glared at most of them.

She ignored the ingredients she readied earlier that morning before she found out her mother's arrival was getting delayed. She frowned deeper and just went to her room to sleep.

Sleep.

That bastard sure did sleep easily.

_-Flashback-_

"_Wh-WHAT?" She yelled from the top of her lungs and pointed rudely at the snoring boy._

"_Ah. Haha." The old woman from before, laughed certainly not helping her imminent hyperventilation despite not actually having the syndrome in the first place. The woman, who looked like she was about her late 30's, was wearing a _very_ amused face. "Better now wake him up, though, miss… he could kill anyone who wakes him up."_

_She tightened her fist. _"Not_ if I kill him first."_

Crack!

_She almost knuckled rude bastard in the forehead, when she felt electricity on her leg and she knew the medicine was still at work and her eyes twitched at the jolt of pain._

_She gritted her teeth, said (a rude) goodbye to the poor maid, and left that huge house._

'Teme- be thankful you took care of my wounds or else you would have been dead by now!'

_-End of Flashback-_

She stirred. And her eyes ended up on a band aid on her leg. And when his face appeared on her head, she glared at it in contempt. There were three things she hated the most, and getting ignored was one of them.

"Weirdo."

"Rude Bastard."

"Kitsune."

She placed her arm on her head as if to relieve her incoming head-ache.

_And he hadn't changed a bit._

…

RUKAWA RESIDENCE

_Awchoo!_

Rukawa woke up and the first thing he saw was the colourful living room ceiling. He probably fell asleep on the couch again.

He was surprised. He fell asleep like that when there was a guest? He usually could only fall asleep in class or when he's alone. Usually. That Sakuragi must have been extremely boring.

Boring?

Somehow that wasn't right. But he shrugged the thoughts off, and turned his head to a random direction and saw Maya- his Nana.

"Where is she?"

"She went away after you slept. Quite hurriedly, too." She said and he stood up.

"What time is it?"

"7:00pm, Kaede-san."

"Time for dinner, then." He shrugged and walked to the dining room. He frowned when he felt he was getting stared at pryingly.

"What is it Maya?"

"She was very offended when she left."

"Hm."

"She's quite a unique girl… isn't she?"

He paused his steps and looked at her analytically. "Why are you being especially talkative today, Maya?"

"I just thought she was interesting, Kaede-san." She smiled. "Such intense energy- and it was not just her hair color."

And then the smile turned rather smug. "I didn't think Kaede-sama was the type to feel comfortable with her."

_CLANK!_

"See, Maya? Even the spoon disagreed with you." He muttered and started eating. He ate a lot- but he was quick and he stood up immediately afterwards. He gestured to take his basketball and key to his pink bike.

"You're going to sacrifice sleep to play basketball again, Kaede-san?" she said with an amused tone of voice that told him she knew something.

But before he could completely leave the house's interior, not in the mood for her mind games. Maya spoke up.

"It's _her_ isn't it? That girl from the courts…? All those years ago..." Rukawa didn't say anything. "She hadn't changed a bit."

He remained impassive and grabbed the ball, before finally going out. He jumped to his bike and went to the public hoops since his parents objected into putting a court inside. He parked his ride and stared at the basket.

"Tsk." He muttered in annoyance and hurriedly dribbled his ball.

He sprinted to the basket and made a impeccable shot, that somehow never stopped giving him a sense of fulfillment- no matter how many times he did so. He let out a deep breath and watched the ball bounce until it had finally lost all of its kinetic energy.

_She _had_ changed._

That Sakuragi Hanamichi.

The girl who got him into basketball in the first place.

.  
.

**END OF CHAPTER 2**

_**Coming Soon:  
**_**CHAPTER 3: Basketball**

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**REPLIES TO ANGELS:**

**mrsklemzack- **Thanks for the review! I hope you continue liking this, but you can be hoest with me. :D

**Guest [7/2/12]-** Here it is~! Hehe. I hope you liked it and thank you for the review!**  
**

******Guest [7/2/12]**- Yeah, i was having problems on how to portray her. XD I'll do my best~ Thx for the review.**  
**

**Akela Victoire- **thanks for the review! I'm relieved to hear that LOL**  
**

**DuckiPray- **yay! I made someone laugh. XD I'm glad to hear that and Haruko is such a nice girl to let pass, ne? But who knows... Thanks for the review!**  
**

**Chibi'prince-sama- **Cute penname. XD And thanks for the review, btw~!

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...

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Thanks for reading!

Please pause for a moment and write your thoughts below! I would love to read them. :D


	3. Basketball

**Thanks for reading! Special hugs to those who reviewed, fav'ed, subscribed, and C2d the story! They make me so happy. :D  
**

**A/N: Ah! To avoid confusion, I'd like to state that I'd be changing Sakuragi's background. I didn't know that this kind of change isn't mainstream yet in this fandom so I decided to point it out. hehe  
**

**DISCLAIMER: **I WISH I own Slam Dunk and **Kawamura Takashi** from Prince of Tennis.

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**…**

* * *

**CHAPTER 3: Basketball**

_CHIBA, 8 years ago_

_Rukawa Kaede, and his family, was having a rare family vacation during a national holiday. Of course, they rented a first-class cottage near the beach and swore to buy one of their own someday. This was a truly rare opportunity for the family- they were barely together- and Kaede (as apathetic as he looked) was determined to make the full out of it._

_Unfortunately, he felt like he was the only one who felt that way. His parents claimed they were too tired and needed to rest for a few hours, dismissing him when he was asking them to go to the beach with him._

"_Go ask Maya. We'll follow later."_

"_Bu-"_

"_We're tired, kiddo. We promise we'll play later."_

"_Bu-"_

"_MAYA!"_

"_Yes, sir!" The old woman barged into the room and looked softly at the poor boy. "Come now, Kaede-kun."_

_They went outside and headed for the beach. The young Rukawa stepped back by a bit, a little annoyed with everything. __He was not in the mood for the beach._

_He watched his nana's back and ran away. _

_Several minutes passed and he was now who-knew-where. He didn't know the place and so he easily got lost. He eventually got tired of running and stopped his tracks. It didn't take long for him to hear a very intriguing sound. It was a ball- no doubt, and he followed it. _

_He was surprised at the sight. There was a girl with beautiful crimson hair playing basketball all alone in a court. Her movements was so elegant that it really felt like she had wings. His daze was immediately cut by his nana catching up with him._

"_Kaede-kun!" she breathed out, panting. "Why would yo-"_

**BAM!**

_And the next thing they knew, she was on the floor. She was in a trance- and the noise they made distracted her, inflicting an injury on her. He unthinkingly ran to her, and looked at her wound. He rummaged his pocket- which _always_ had a sort of band-aid. _

"_What are y-"_

"_Ahou." He said. He didn't know why, but he did. She frowned at him, and its intensity made him wince. But he continued doing what he planned nevertheless._

"_Oi!" she uttered in surprise, as he cleaned in up with his tiny bottle of solution. _What's that thing doing in his pocket, anyway?_ She twitched but he held her leg in place, putting a band-aid there._

_He looked up to her face and saw that her face was also red as her hair, and he could not help but blush, as well, for reasons he didn't even know. Maya walked to them and helped her up and apologized for her noise. _

"_It doesn't matter." She said dismissively, and looked at them. She glared as if it was the most natural thing in the world- and their eyes widened in front of it. _"_Now, leave me alone."_

"_D'Aho." He stated again, and Maya panicked._

"_Kae-"_

_She gritted her teeth. "Is that all you could say, teme?"_

"_Baka."_

"_TEME-"_

"_Kaede...!" Maya immediately held him to drag him away. The old woman was confused- Kaede _**did**_ have an alarming tendency to look down on pretty much everyone, but somehow this didn't seem to be that case. And since she didn't quite know what it was... and considering the scary red-headed girl was fuming- she concluded it was best to escape._

"_D'aho." Rukawa muttered, yet again, as he was getting dragged out. The girl was glaring at them the whole time, and-_

CLANK!

_The two of them froze even more. It was good that the fence blocked her throw, but it left a freaking _**dent**_ on the metallic fence. _Just how strong was that girl?

_Maya gulped again and unconsciously looked at her and him alternatively for an instant. Rukawa knew he was wearing an unfathomable expression, while the girl was pure red and she was pointing rudely at him.  
_

"_Baka-kitsune!"_

**…**

Rukawa cringed.

That was the last time he saw her before High School and that red hair and glare of hers gave her away immediately. But he knew something changed… and yet he couldn't quite put a finger on it. But in the end, he shrugged. He shouldn't really care.

He never did about such things anyway, he didn't see why he should be starting now.

* * *

SHOHOKU HIGH

The Sakuragi gang was walking pompously by the school gates again, but this time Hanamichi seemed to be back to her old energetic self.

"Shahaha! I'm still surprised you guys were alive. The great me was on a roll yesterday."

"Yea, yeah. So… I'm guessing you ravaged a few cups of ice cream after beating us to pulp…?" Noma said rubbing his palms together with his mustache twitching in anticipation.

"No." she stated. "I went home."

And then a sudden laugh from Okusu, as he held out his hand where Noma begrudgingly placed a thousand yen. Nozomi did, too, and Mito sighed. They bet about everything.

Okay, he would have joined in under normal circumstances. But the causes of his best friend's bad mood were too serious to even treat as a joke. These idiots didn't understand that, and neither he nor Hanamichi would prefer that changed.

Well, there was another (leaning more on self-preservation) reason. His shoulder jolted reflexively at the noise.

**BAM! Bam! **_**BAAAM!**_

And the three's head were once again on the floor after an epic head-butt. Mito stifled a chuckle and went to follow Hanamichi, who was still pretending to be back to normal.

"You'd tell me what happened yesterday?" he asked, and she frowned.

"No."

He stared at her and shrugged, "Mah. You'll still be in trouble for cutting class."

"Whatever." And she opened the door. Mito was surprised that she completely ignored Rukawa. He thought that she'd probably start a bickering session with him in an attempt to probably exchange seats. That was just how stubborn she could be.

Later, class started and Mito watched Hanamichi cup her chin with her palm to blankly stare at a random direction. She entered a complete daze. When he saw the professor get called by a staff member, Mito finally decided to speak with her. He threw a small paper ball and leaned down to start whispering.

"Oi. Hanamichi- Oi." She didn't hear him.

"Psst." He threw a bigger paper ball.

She glared. "Nani?"

But as if on cue, the professor came back staring directly at his friend. "Sakuragi Hanamichi. To the principal's office, now."

"Che."

He blinked, while she didn't seem surprised at all. But what surprised him was Rukawa reacted as well.

"D'Aho." The raven-haired boy said, but Sakuragi just glared.

"Urusai."

* * *

PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE

"You are already causing quite a fuss, Sakuragi-san, and it had only been 2 days since class started. We hoped you would change by high school, as your mother begged us to give you a chance."

She turned chibi-mode immediately upon hearing the word 'mother'. "Hmph." _Nice of her to say something once in a while. And not directly to _her_, too._

"We'd like to ask you to join a sports club." He said with his bald head shining annoyingly, distracting her to no end. So she thought she must have heard wrong.

"Pardon?"

"A sports club." He repeated. "Your mother said you used to love basketball."

"She doesn't know anything."

"So the fact that your late father was a pro was wrong?"

"That's none of your business, old man." She snapped. "I'm going."

"Wait!"

She didn't turn. "Make me."

"If you get out of the door before I tell you. You're expelled."

She paused. But her pride and anger were too much.

"Fine." She said sternly and held the knob. She was about to turn it when she heard something.

"Oi, oi."

Hanamichi paused at the familiar (extremely arrogant) voice that appeared after a creaking of the door. It was a door to an adjacent room, and it seemed that person was hiding there. She had short auburn, a frown, but was still very pretty and wore a rather political atmosphere.

"I don't want to have an uneducated child in my family."

"Who said I'm your family, old hag?"

"Teme-" the woman's vein popped and her face was red as Hanamichi's hair with anger. "How many times do I have to tell you I will be 29 forever?! 29 is _not _old, gaki!"

The woman pinched her cheek and Sakuragi made incessant slaps on her mother's hands. "_Itte_- How is_ this _educated, then_?"_

Her mother (somewhat) calmed down at the question and dusted herself, catching her professional composure back and pulling the principal from his befuddled state. "Principal-san." she initiated, as if _nothing_ humiliating just happened. "I didn't say anything about her joining the basketball team. It's her choice if she wants to play basketball once again, to some degree."

Yuko cleared her throat to cut Hanamichi's impending counters. "All I'm saying is that _she should start acting more responsibly and she can't mope around forever._"

"Urusai." Hanamichi snapped. The pain had cut through deeply that she didn't even want to overcome it anymore. She denied that she _could_, indeed, play again. But her mother said it herself: to some degree.

It wouldn't be enough.

So she just pompously looked at her mother as if she said something stupid. "_Hmph_." Yuko's eyes twitched.

"Teme-"

"Act more professionally, _okaa-sama_, you're **embarrassing** me."

Her mother's eyes glowed with anger and she knuckled her temples. "Temeeeeeee."

"Itte! Itte!"

The principal stood up in panic. "A-A- M-Mrs. Sakuragi. Let us just speak without phys-ical contact, please? Things would be so much f-faster."

They paused and sat by random chairs very far apart. "Fine." They said simultaneously. And so a tedious debate session started. But then that idiot principal just_ had _to add:

"Can you please ask her to die her hair back to its normal color size."

They simultaneously glared at him, making him turn to a terrified little stone bald-head. "THIS IS (HER/MY) NATURAL HAIR COLOR! YOU **IDIOT**."

And he might never know why they took such offense over hair color.

**…**

1-A

Sakuragi's gang waited for her in her homeroom. They were trespassers, but nobody dared say anything. They encircled the free tables so they could eat lunch there and saved Hanamichi a seat. They were surprised when a pretty girl came knocking with an anxious face.

"Ano… is Sakuragi-san back yet?"

Mito was the one who answered, since his friends were still formulating assumptions. "Not yet."

"I see."

"You must be Haruko-chan." He smiled and she nodded, "She told me about you."

Well, not really. Sakuragi was actually mumbling things like 'Why would Haruko-chan be a basketball player?' and 'Such a sweet girl like Haruko-chan just _cannot_ be a basketball player!' as she was beating them up in the alley the previous day.

The cute brunette blushed and asked him to tell Hanamichi to do her best, and left.

"Eh… first time I saw someone look for Hanamichi without asking for a fight. And a girl, too…"

"I haven't seen her hang out with female friends, though. I wonder how many she had in the past..." Ohkusu asked out loud, and the other two nodded in similar curiosity.

Mito smiled. "You guys may not know this." He paused, catching their attention. "But Haruko-san would be (potentially) Hanamichi's _first_ female friend."

_Silence_

"EHHHH?!"

"But is that even possible? She's 16, already!"

Mito teasingly avoided their prying stares. "Who knows…"

"Eh, no fair Yohei." Ohkusu pouted like a child, and gaped at Mito. "You always know something about the leader that we don't."

"It's a given, already, right? We're childhood friends."

Noma narrowed his eyes and combed his sports mustache. Mito flinched. "If I didn't know better you're keeping these things simply because you want to be the only one who knows."

Mito laughed. "You think so?"

"Just a guess."

"It makes sense, though." Ohkusu nodded.

Mito just shrugged and returned to reading his manga.

"Who knows…"

**…**

After classes, Hanamichi finally showed up in front of his friends. She looked more grudging than usual, and she was basically stomping across the corridor with an aura that paved her way without people.

Her gang looked at her from behind and Mito sighed, waving his hand at the other three and signalled them to take a few steps back. He would talk to her again, and they followed. Mito was the only person she really talked to about some things.

"Yow." He said, and she glared at him. She was only an inch shorter than he was, and he knew it for more than a decade, so her glare was less intimidating. "What's up?"

"That woman arrived."

His pace slowed. "When?"

"Just now, and she added to my problems. Now I don't want to go home anytime soon."

"Seriously, Hanamichi. Wasn't it just yesterday when you were in a foul mood because she delayed her flight home for 2 days?" she frowned. "You're a high school student now. Reduce your mood swings."

"I do _not_ have mood swings, you dolt."

"Aha…" she would never admit it. Mah, it wasn't like she'd stay mad for long- she never did. Not with the only family member she had left.

Mito blinked and slowed his steps even more, only to hasten it again when he thought of an idea. "You can come stay with us. Okaa-san would love to have you."

She stared at him, and shook her head. "Nah. I don't think I want to bother her anymore than this." She said. They knew Mito's mother was busy. Her dark aura wouldn't help with her stress.

And yes, Hanamichi could be caring too. It just depended on who the subject of worry _was._

"Sakuragi-chan!" a voice from behind them said with a very quick approaching voice. He looked at Hanamichi and he could see her ears twitching in excitement.

"Haruko-chan…" She called, and Mito wanted to chuckle as he looked at the girl. _iAkagi __Haruko, Hanamichi's very first female friend._

"How are you? I heard you got called to the principal's office."

"I'm fine. I was just warned. Thank you for worrying."

"Ano… I'm glad."

"Eh?"

"You're not mad at me…?" The girl asked meekly and Sakuragi flinched at the blasphemy.

"Why would I?"

"Because I'm a basketball player…" Hanamichi blinked. _Oh._

And before she knew it she smiled and patted the meek girl's head. Haruko blushed, but then her eyes widened- along with everyone's- when they saw her smile.

"Wa!"

"N-Nani?"

"You look so different when you smile, Sakuragi-chan."

"I do?" she asked quietly pointing at her face, ignoring everyone else. Haruko grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Is that bad?"

Haruko quickly shook her head. "You look very good!"

And Hanamichi grinned.

"Then I will smile for Haruko-chan."

**…**

* * *

GYMNASIUM

Akagi called everyone to line parallel for the introductions, one line for the freshman the other for everyone else. It was their first day of official club activity, and it was the start of his final year to achieve his dreams since grade school.

Bringing his team to the nationals.

With Rukawa on board, their chances had become much greater. And so the introductions started, and he flinched immediately at the girls already watching. It was obvious they were there for Rukawa- even his own sister was a bit, too, but thankfully his sister _did_ like basketball. Too bad there wasn't a girl's team.

What annoyed him the most was that darned red-head with his sister, along with their respective group of friends with them. They were being buddy-buddy again, but as the captain, he couldn't make a fuss. He'll do it later, so he clapped his hand and hence they begun.

Each of the freshmen was required to state (energetically) their names, height, and other relevant but concise information.

When Rukawa's turn came, he heard shameless cheers from the girls. He sighed in relief when his sister wasn't one of them. She was definitely ogling, though, and that Sakuragi was waving her hand in front of her face in an attempt to pull her off her love-sick trance.

"Oi, Haruko-chan." Hanamichi called, but one of her friends- the one with the pigtails and big mouth shook her head. "It's pointless." She stated. "She's head over heels over that guy."

_Rukawa?_

She's _head-over-heels_ for Rukawa?

"Head-over-heels _what_?" she asked for confirmation, semi-not wanting to hear it.

"She l-i-k-e-s him."

Hanamichi's eyes widened in shock- her friends' did, too. "NANI?!"

And Haruko was pulled out and covered Hanamichi's mouth when she saw the red-head point rudely towards Rukawa. Haruko was blushing furiously and begged for her not to say anything.

"It's a secret. Please don't tell." She said quietly as well as to the Sakuragi gang. Thankfully, the other girls were too far from them to hear that.

"B-But _why_ HIM?! He's useless!" she squealed. "And he's a chair-thief!"

"Pardon?" she asked, but their attention was pulled back to the introductions. The freshman after Rukawa, a meek-looking guy, was introducing himself shyly and Akagi yelled for him to be more enthusiastic.

"Ara?" Nozomi muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Isn't that Kawamura…?"

"You know him, Nozomi?" Mito asked.

"Well yes, he's our classmate." He nodded along with the other two. "He's really meek. I knew him back in middle school, too, before you two moved in." he said and grinned. "This is going to be interesting."

"What do you mean?"

"He-he." Nozomi crossed his fat arms. "You'll see." He then looked at a random freshman and yelled,

"Pass him a ball!" The poor boy flinched- due to Akagi's glare.

"Outsiders should be quiet." He said, pushing back his irritation. Hanamichi, though, was definitely interested. There was something about her chubby friend's devious smirk that told her this was going to be amusing.

"Just pass him a ball, Gori, you'll see."

He ignored her, but that girl seriously had a talent on making him _snap_. "Pass- the- ball- GORI-"

_Twitch_

"URUSAI!"

Hanamichi frowned and ignored him, running to a unkempt ball and threw it to Kawamura. It was a simple pass, but Akagi- with his strong eyes- actually saw it was an impressive one. He shook his head of the thoughts. That arrogant idiot should not be praised.

But then he felt an area near him warm up, and he whipped his head towards it. It was Kawamura seeming to… load... enthusiasm.

_WHOOP!_

The atmosphere surrounding him changed so abruptly that even Rukawa flinched. Kawamura held the ball tightly and circled it around.

"GREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTOO OO!"

"KAWAMURA TAKASHI! FRESHMAN! FROM TOKYO! 180 cm tall! I OWN A SUSHI HOUSE!"

And Nozomi's glasses sparkled. "What will you do if the team wins?"

"I WILL TREAT EVERYONE IN THE TEAM AN EAT ALL YOU CAN BUFFET!"

Hanamichi sneered in amusement. "Ehh, I like this guy already."

Nozomi waved his hand. "The cheerios join in, too, ne?"

"SURE! GREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTOOO!"

But then, the gleeful-over-free-sushi Hanamichi froze. She just realized she was in a dilemma.

Didn't that mean they'd have to _cheer_ the team?

Her eyes jerked and somehow met with baka-kitsune's. To her surprise, he smirked with his eyes- and only she could see that annoying look, she knew it. It was so freaking obvious what he was thinking, and she clenched her fist in anger.

His eyes glistened again.

'_D'Ahou.'_

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**END OF CHAPTER 3**

_**Coming Soon:  
**_**CHAPTER 4: Revelations**

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**REPLIES TO ANGELS  
**

**Mikage Ceres-** Haha. I had this notion that Rukawa's rich... so yeah. XDD Anyway, I hope this chap was worth the wait. You can tell me otherwise of course. XD Thx for the review!**  
**

**SunShine- (Ch1) **Kinda hard to imagine her like that so I just made the fanart I made showing her 'looking' somewhat feminine and made it the coverpage. Haha. Hope it helped!** (Ch2) **Yep~ It didn't last long, but I suppose it made an impact in their current lives. Thanks for the reviews~

**Chibi'prince-sama - **It's a combination of my nickname, real name, and a noun I use to describe myself. lol. And their past wasn't _that_ deep but I hope it was enough. XD Thanks for the review!**  
**

**Akela Victoire- **I always imagine you wearing a smile on. XDD Thanks for the review~**  
**

**Fang-chan- **Thanks for the review! This is where totally changing the events in fanfiction comes in. XD You didn't watch the anime wrong, I really did just change things up. Hehe**  
**

**cloudless- (Ch1)**Didn't he from the start in the anime as well? Ahahaha**. (Ch2) **Wa! Their history was short though. Hope you didn't get disappointed but you can be honest with me. XD Thank you for the reviews. :D**  
**

** Emma- (Ch1)** Thank you~** (Ch2) **I'm happy that you thought so! That was a huge relief, mind you. Haha. Thanks again for the reviews~! (:D**  
**

**Bao- **I agree. i kind of condition my expectations now depending on the fandom. XD Nevertheless, this was a fun story to write and I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the review!**  
**

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**...**

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**Thanks for reading!  
**

**And please pause for a moment and let me have the pleasure of knowing what you thought, ne? (;D  
**


	4. Revelation

**Thanks for reading minna-san~! It would be nice to hear what you thought though. :D So special thanks to those who mustered a bit more of their time to review. ;)  
**

I'll start her Sakuragi's 'lovesickness' in the next chapter. Can you guess who the unfortunate guy is? lol

**DISCLAIMER: **I WISH I own Slam Dunkand **Kawamura Takashi** from Prince of Tennis.

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…

* * *

**CHAPTER 4: Revelations**

GYMNASIUM

_Boink Boink Boink_

An old man with a huge bouncing and onomatopoeia-able beer belly approached the gymnasium from the internal door. Sadly, Rukawa's fangirls moved there, annoyed by the Sakuragi gang on the other door. They were squealing and the old man could not get in. He tried his best- only to roll like a ball every time he was accidentally pushed back.

Eventually, he succeeded and the older players greeted him energetically.

"GOOD AFTERNOON, COACH!"

The old man laughed like a santa, and looked around. He could see the unfamiliar faces were quite surprised at his title. Honestly, he would be too. And he laughed (again) at the thought. He focused on his team, though, and ignored the gapes of spectators directed at him.

_Staaaaaaaaare_

Hanamichi (who literally just arrived) was one of those spectators, but more accurately... she was looking at his huge collection of flab. She seriously wanted to make it bounce- much like how children played with jellies. And the image made her scoff and mused why he suddenly appeared.

"He probably heard about the free sushi."

Nozomi cackled. "Pfft- you're right."

"Look at who's talking." Noma added patting the flap of skin in his neck, and Hanamichi joined in playing with his tummy.

"HAHAHAHA." She laughed- rather noisily, and continued insulting her friend like they usually do with each other. "Darn. I can't imagine how it would look like when you're 60."

"Yohoho." The coach ignored all the noise and Akagi's growing vein. "How was practice?"

Akagi let out a deep breath. "We're doing great, coach."

"I just scheduled a practice game with Ryonan."

_Silence_

A few people there wondered why everyone else was so tense, until a few players started whispering how much chance they had... in gaining at least half the opponent's score. Hanamichi almost scoffed, until someone mentioned Ryonan was one of the top 4 teams.

Hanamichi shrugged. Apparently the opponent team was strong. She watched Gorilla clap his hand and yelled that the practice game was about to start.

'_Whatever_.' She mused. Basketball had nothing to do with her anymore. A slight thump on her chest appeared (not that she'd admit that) and, unconsciously, she opened her right hand... and closed it again.

_Hmph_

They said she was lucky she could still use it every day. Sure, she can. Just not on the thing she loved most.

Someone patted her back and pulled her back slightly, so they were a little far from everyone else. It was Yohei, and thankfully everyone was busy watching the game between the brewing freshmen and seniors so no one noticed.

"You alright?" he asked, as always.

"Of course." was all she replied. They stayed there for a while... until some of their friends noticed, so they walked back to watch the game.

It was then a showdown between the high-level Gori and SUPER-baka-Kitsune (And the super being the adjective for the 'Baka' of course), with Kawamura also showing off here and there. He was pretty meek, but when the ball got passed to him- he got fired up and basically only Akagi could hold him off.

She closed her eyes at the great game the two teams were having, but the noise all the dribbling and the enthusiastic cheers did not help. Soon, she felt a, familiar, reassuring hand on hers. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at the waxed floor, and started speaking without looking, as she knew who it was.

"What about you? You're a good player yourself, Yohei." She whispered, ensuring no one heard. "You don't have anything holding _you_ back."

Yohei smiled. "Naw. I just found basketball fun because you and your dad always played with me."

"That's limiting."

"Not like you to say that." She didn't say anything. "You don't have to shun it away completely. You _can _still play."

But she only frowned and shook her head, as if Yohei was more of an idiot than he led on. "Playing lightly wouldn't be enough."

"So, for you... it's either you run away now or jump to the courts?"

"Duh..."

Yohei sighed..., but before he could utter anything else he felt a staggering stare. It was practically bordering a glare, and being a gangster he quickly upped his guard. Hanamichi was too busy in her world of denial to notice though. Yohei only turned his head to where it emanated from. He didn't expect for it to be _him_ though.

It was Rukawa. The aforementioned genius freshman had slowed his pace and for that split second he actually stared and showed interest at them. It was too abrupt that nobody else noticed.

Yohei started pondering. He felt an odd atmosphere between Hanamichi and Rukawa since a while back, but decided not to pry. Now, there was more proof, he decided to do something. Sure, he was attracted to Hanamichi- more than as a friend, but he would never make a move. So this issue with those two was a matter of (mostly) amusement.

But before he could formulate any sort of plans, he realized that the trio was looking at them suspiciously. He actually forgot about them, and they were wearing that 'we will find out eventually and tease you to death' faces. Hanamichi sighed in annoyance and head-butted the three to shut up before proceeding to walk away.

"Ara?" Mito uttered watching her back. "Where are you going?"

"Somewhere that's not here."

"Ha?"

"Oi, oi." Nozomi butted in when he noticed. "What about free sushi?"

"I'm going to catch the fishes myself." She snapped. No, she had never fished before nor had the patience to. She'll probably make a spear and jump to the middle of the sea or something.

Really, anything but there.

"You'll probably get back to Chiba." Mito snickered jokingly. Hanamichi probably had the worst sense of direction in the region. So he gestured to come with her.

"Alone."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Hanamichi frowned, and Mito defensively raised his hand as if she had a lethal gun. "Okay, okay.

"But you could at least finish the game." He added in a rather _loud_ tone of voice that caught Haruko and her friend's attention. Maybe a few of the players, too. Hanamichi swore she was going to punch Yohei later.

But she forgot about it(punching Yohei, at least for a while) the moment Haruko ran to her. She looked at the brunette nervously.

"Y-You're going, Sakuragi-chan?"

"..."

"Sakuragi-chan?"

"...yeah." And she turned around again, mostly to keep herself from changing her mind. She rarely did change her mind, but Haruko was too cute to refuse. And yet, she told herself, even if it was Haruko… basketball would still be basketball.

So, she took a brave step away from the courts.

"Is it… okay if I ask something first?" Haruko asked meekly, and she paused her step. She nodded, and her eyes jerked when Haruko gulped in nervousness.

"Why do you hate basketball?"

And she stiffened. That question was _way_ too loud- and she unconsciously looked at the courts and saw Rukawa. His eyes were even wider than that time at his house, and she turned back to Haruko immediately. They shouldn't see that super-baka-kitsune's weird reaction. They're bound to find out she used to play basketball.

"Ano… w-what are you talking about? Haha- ja ne."

And- _poof!-_ she disappeared.

...

"Ehhhhh..."

The glorious members of the Sakuragi gang... were curious as well, and they all turned to the all-knowing Mito. But he feigned innocence, and teleported away from them too. Nozomi kicked a poor, small, random rock nearby.

"Darn it."

"Those two never tell us anything." Ohkusu muttered, before finally walking back to the interior of the gym. Akagi clapped his hand loudly and called the gossipy players in and get back to the game. The game resumed as if nothing happened.

But before Ohkusu and the others could return to their corner of self-pity, they heard demure footsteps come their way. "Why don't they?" It was Haruko.

Nozomi's eyeglasses sparkled (since it wasn't everyday someone asked him an intelligible question) and cleared his throat-

"Those two are the closest. They're childhood friends, they moved in around here at pretty much the same time as well." Ohkusu answered and Nozomi soon glared at him. His moment of glory, gone!

"Eh…" Matsui, the girl with the ponytails, scratched her chin in curiosity, and ignored the bespectacled and chubby teenager. "Are they dating?"

_Boink_

"OI! RUKAWA, concentrate!" Everyone in the sidelines turned.

They didn't see but apparently he was out of it for a moment. Although, he was acting nothing like that though. Some muttered whispers of regret of not seeing him out of it _during_ a basketball game, while some just mused perhaps Akagi imagined things.

But there was one heart that was skipping a beat. Haruko's clenched her chest, as she habitually did when it did so. _Rukawa was wearing his normal expression… so there was nothing wrong, right?_ She mused, and yet she couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety off and she could only tighten her hold on her own heart.

'_Rukawa-kun…' _she whispered in anxiety.

But she managed to watch him play like usual, anyway. Just like always.

* * *

_Clink_

_Clink  
_

_CLINK  
_

A RANDOM STREET,  
_/A few hours later/_

_She hated basketball? _a certain raven-haired boy pondered as he cycled, not hearing the noisy bell-sounds it made.

_That wasn't right- that couldn't be right. Someone who disliked the sport wouldn't be able to make such movements back then. _He it be that she hated it _after_ they met?

And... could those two really be dating? Not that it was any of his business, nor did he actually They certainly acted like a couple when he saw them. His eyes widened and he shook his head.

'_Snap out of it, Kaede.'_

But when he finally returned to his senses- he saw a woman with groceries right on his path. He reflexively turned away.

_**BAM!**_

And kissed the wall.

"Oh my goodness! Kid...! are you alright?"

He didn't answer, why would he be? So he dismissed her anxiety by a slight wave of a hand.

_Bam!_

And then he had a bump on his glared at the the hell would she be hitting his head? But instead of apologizing, the woman glared back.

"How impertinent! You may be a little good-looking, but that is no excuse! Hmph! See if I care about all those blood. "

He placed his hand on his head by reflex and shrugged. His head was full of blood- alright, but the woman's pride seemed to have erased that.

"HMPH!" she said, walking away, and he turned to his bike. It was still fixable, but it didn't look like it would work for him for a while. So he pulled it up with a swift motion, and used his hand to manually move it to home. He let out a deep breath, and continued moving. But when he turned to a corner… he heard a very familiar voice.

He paused his steps, turned around, and unconsciously hid behind a random pole.

"Ah! Yuko-basan. I brought your delinquent daughter home." It was Mito, holding the idiot monkey's hips. She tried fighting him off, but he just pressed a certain spot in her side and she flinched immediately. Rukawa honestly didn't know how he felt about that scene.

"Che!" She exclaimed. "I knew it was a trap. Darn you Yohei."

"Just get in." The old woman (who called him impertinent) said and lifted the plastic bag. "I'll cook your favourite food."

The monkey stubbornly looked away. Rukawa shook his head. She obviously _liked_ the idea but for some reason was acting very stubborn.

"Fine. Don't eat then." The old woman said with equal obstinacy. They're probably related, Rukawa concluded with certainty. Obviously, the monkey would not lose. Or so he thought…

"Whatever." She said and stomped to the door. The old woman thanked Yohei and closed the door.

Rukawa stayed there frozen for a few minutes. He even watched as Mito was just standing in front of the house. the guy was chuckling alone like an idiot. "Hanamichi's as stubborn as always." He said to himself, and somehow Rukawa's feet moved revealing himself completely.

Mito flinched. "R-Rukawa?"

"Those two fight a lot?" He asked, nonchalantly, and Mito smiled conservatively.

"Not really my thing to say."

"So I'll assume they do." Rukawa said, and waited for _something_.

Mito on the other side of the conversation, frowned, Hanamichi was right in calling him a fox. This guy was sly- not that she understood. They just stared at each other until Mito finally let out a sigh of defeat.

"Her family always fight- but they never really hate each other. They usually just yell here and there- maybe go physical sometimes- but they make up as if nothing happened. Kinda like children's fights… get it?"

"No."

Mito shrugged. "I said my piece." And walked passed him. Mito had a smile on his face that moment- he was waiting for Rukawa to show him something interesting. He didn't know it would be _this_ entertaining.

"Why did she quit basketball?" he asked with worry filling his eyes. Mito's eyes widened slightly at the unhampered curiosity the supposed stoic rookie gave off. But there was also the fact that he didn't know she used to play.

"You knew she used to play?" he voiced out and Rukawa slightly looked away.

"I saw her as a child."

"I see…" Mito nodded, utterly curious, and for a moment he wanted to tell him. "But… it's not my place to tell. Ask her yourself."Mito then pointed at the house. "I don't want you to disturb the mother-daughter moments, though, so you better just call later tonight."

"Wh- No."

"Their number is on the phonebook, so don't worry."

"I would never-" Mito cut him off with a slight wave of the hand.

"Ja ne~"

* * *

RUKAWA RESIDENCE

It was later that night when Rukawa found himself there - staring at the phone like a total idiot. He formulated a plan that wouldn't make him look stupid, but it was still troublesome. Should he?

He had to admit that he had always wanted to play with that idiot. Only her basketball was the good thing about her, he told himself… for the nth time since they met again. He was not being buddy-buddy or anything, he was just being a normal athlete wanting to play with a supposedly formidable opponent.

And with that line of thought, he finally dialled a number.

"Hello?"

"D'Aho." Was the first thing he said. And for a long second there was silence. She was absorbing who he was, and when she did she made sure he heard her gritting her teeth.

"Teme- How the hell did you-"

"Phonebook." He cut her off. "D'Aho."

"What the heck do you want, superbakakitsune?"

"Play a game with me."

"_Ha…?"_ Yes. That was his reaction to himself as well. He wondered what was in his head, especially since he felt that he wanted to say something else.

"W-Why would I?"

"No one knows you play basketball, right?"

"Yohei does."

"But the others don't."

"So?"

"They'll find out."

"You won't dare-" she growled. He didn't answer. It was a taunt, obviously.

"Fine." She finally said. "Tomorrow, 5:45am. Is that fine?" she said that confidently and he sighed. She probably assumed that he wouldn't be able to wake up since he did sleep a lot. But the reason he slept in class was because he woke up early every morning to play.

"Hm."

"…"

"What? You're scared?"

"Hell I am." She said with finality.

"Ja."

"Ja."

_Beep_

...

"Superbakakitsune."

"D'Ahou."

The first words that morning were exchanged. It was still cold and dark, but at least it was still morning. They were just standing there on the courts under the dawning sky.

But Rukawa still didn't get how her friends (the idiot gang) found out, and it was obvious she was annoyed as well. The all-knowing Mito looked evidently worried though, despite the other three's shameless partying. The monkey started dribbling, but she was obviously reluctant. She started looking as if she was actually thinking- which she barely did.

"There's no point in the match anymore since they're already here."

"Wanna have a bet, then?" he offered, and pointed at her gang. "They do it a lot." He couldn't believe he wanted to play with her this much. He ignored the fact that he wanted to know why she stopped, too.

He wanted to find out what _that_ guy knew that no one else seemed to.

_Darn it._

He needed to focus.

"If I win you will follow my orders for a whole week."

"Fine." They stiffened.

"If I win you will follow mine. Deal?"

"Oi, oi-" Mito intervened. "Don't you think this is unfair? I mean you're handi-"

"Urusai, Yohei." And she smirked pompously like usual, but somehow it seemed forced again. "I don't need to play my best to beat this guy. NYAHAHAHA!"

"Oh! Oh!" Nozomi cackled. "She's arrogant already!"

"First to get 10 points wins."

"Be the referee Yohei."

"O-Okay, but-"

And she cut him off by going in for the attack. This silenced her friends, and it startled Rukawa. She was agile, and extremely swift. Rukawa practically jumped but it was too late.

"2 points."

"Eh, she hadn't gotten rusty at all!" Mito exclaimed and the other 3 gaped at him in disbelief.

"EH?! She- she used to play? NO WAY."

"How come she hates the sport now?"

"Could she have been dumped because-"

_THUMP!_

And Ohkusu was on the floor after a ball was thrown right at his face. Hanamichi scoffed. "Hell I was, baka."

"But it was very imaginable, though- GAHAHAH!"

"Yeah, I could imagi-"

"URUSAI." She yelled and whipped her head back to Rukawa, who was wearing that annoying stoic look on his face again.

"That's shallow."

"Like I _said_, I was not dumped! No guy is good enough to catch my attention idiots!"

"Lesbian?"

"I am not!" she yelled and her eyes twitched when Nozomi scratched his flappy chin.

"I wonder why she's so attached to Haruko-chan, though?"

Noma went in for his theory. "Isn't it because she's unafraid of her?" that made much sense, so they nodded in assent, but still-

"Hanamichi's a lesbie!"

"Nyahhaha.

Mito, on the other hand, smiled. There was one other reason. Hanamichi loved basketball too much as a child, and she didn't have any female friends even _before_ she turned extremely hostile. She was probably making up for what she had lost back then. Mito somewhat wished she and Haruko met earlier.

And then he felt Rukawa glare.

And Mito mentally snickered, knowing full well why he was glaring.

...

Rukawa... Rukawa was annoyed. That guy's knowing look was annoying him, but he willed himself to concentrate on the game. There was no way he'd want to be a slave to this idiot who was laughing arrogantly just because she scored a point.

So he took advantage of her lack of concentration and went in for an atta-

His eyes widened. _'Nani?'_ she was already guarding him. It was just a split second! And he mentally cursed. He threw the ball backward and caught it with his other hand.

He needed to get serious. So they did- it was an incredibly quick-paced game and it was more, admittedly, enthralling than he had imagined.

_Boink_

And she was already dribbling the ball and made a graceful lay-up. Rukawa just stood there in daze, but shook his head away immediately when he saw that smug look on her face.

"This is easier than I thought."

A vein popped on his head, and he went for an even more vehement attack. She upped her guard and they barely even moved a 2-meter radius and they were just trying to get past each other.

And soon their game stretched much longer than they imagined. Her gang certainly looked disbelieving, considering they all had red unblinking eyes. The score was then 8-4, with him losing. He let out a deep breath and used his footing to get past her.

But then, he saw from the corner of his eyes than her hand was already going in for the steal and he froze (again) at her swiftness. And she did, but then-

_Bomp Bomp _

_Bomp…_

The ball was just there on the floor and despite actually stealing it- she let it go. His eyes widened- her arm was literally shaking.

"Hanamichi!" Mito called and Rukawa just stood there. "Are you alright?"

"Of course." She stated and forced to move her hand.

"Technically you forfeited. I win."

"Teme-" she frowned and her friends gaped at his coldness. He sighed.

"Just tell me why you quit basketball."

_Silence_

"Ara? Ara? Could it be that baka-kitsune have a crush on me?" she wore a smug- yet joking- face just for the heck of it. His eyes twitched at the sentence and ignored all the things that it actually hit.

"Urusai." he paused. "D'Aho."

But before anyone could argue, he continued with his monotonous yet high-pitched voice. "It's just depressing that someone so arrogant quit playing. It's uncertain if you look down on basketball or not. That's all."

"That's none of your business."

Then the trio suddenly looked quite serious, too. "We want to know, too, Hanamichi. We've been friends for almost 3 years now…"

Hanamichi frowned. "NYAHAHAHA- I must be so awesome for you guys to want to know about my mysterious past so much."

_Silence_

"D'Aho. It's too obvious that you're forcing it."

"U-Urusai."

"You lost. Accept the consequences." He blinked. He almost forgot- "D'Aho."

"So its fine as long as you find out?"

"Hai."

"Then Yohei will tell." She said and walked back, making them grimace. "I'm outta here."

"Ja."

"Oi-" her gang called, while he remained impassive- forcing himself to calm down. Mito stretched his hand to keep anyone from following her, and Rukawa stared him down. Mito was really starting to hit more and more of his nerves with that blasted knowing attitude.

"Let her be." He said without flinching. "Please."

"Just say it."

"I'll warn you- it's a pretty dramatic story." He said. "It doesn't really suit a character like her."

Nozomi's eyeglasses shimmer and he held something up. "Tissue?"

_BAM!_

"OUCH!" Nozomi yelled and glared. "What the hell?!"

"Take this more seriously, will you?"

Someone cleared his throat. And so they mustered all their seriousness and stared at Mito to tell him to speak. The story took about a few minutes, and Ohkusu and Noma were already hugging- crying in the other's shoulders. Nozomi was on the ground after Rukawa kicked him when he tried to hug _him_. While Mito remained quiet.

"We're taking things slowly by now." He said sternly and stepped back from his friends' bucket of snot.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Hanamichi-chan!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"*Sniff* Hhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

"Urusai."

"You're so cold Rukawa!"

_Nod, nod._ "Heartless bastard!"

And they froze under his sudden glare.

"Who cares?" he said, and walked away- cursing a certain idiot with his mind. And when he was out of sight, he felt like punching a random wall with all his strength.

That _idiot_. That... was _not_ an excuse.

And Rukawa swore to make her see the light.

To get revenge and continue their unfinished game, of course.

.  
.

**END OF CHAPTER 4**

_**Coming Soon:  
**_**CHAPTER 5: Fishing Pole**

* * *

**REPLIES TO ANGELS**

**mrsklemzak-** I am very glad you liked the twists! xD I was scared since I'm changing way too many things on the canon. lol. And, of course, Thank you for the review~!**  
**

**Mikage Ceres-** It's the red head, I think. *cackles* And... a lot of things get associated there. I'll show a few later on. ;) Thank you for the comment, btw~! xD**  
**

**hitomi65- **Thank you for the review~! Happy you thought it was a nice chap. ;D**  
**

* * *

**...**

* * *

Thanks for reading!

Just want to let everyone know your feedbacks mean so much to me and the story!  
So please don't hesitate to write anything in there. ;)


	5. Fishing Pole

**Thank you so much for reading this far! Special hugs to everyone who reviewed, fav'ed, followed, and C2d the story! Heheh**

**DISCLAIMER: **I WISH I own Slam Dunkand **Kawamura Takashi** from Prince of Tennis.

* * *

**…**

* * *

**CHAPTER 5: Fishing Pole**

SHOHOKU HIGH

Rukawa stared at the window. For some reason, he couldn't fall asleep—not when the teacher of the _third_ period was already there and she had yet to arrive. He stared at Mito, and he seemed to look at her chair here and then as well. For a second their eyes met, but he quickly pulled away.

Rukawa mentally scoffed and willed himself to take a nap like he normally did. Mito stared at him. He really was acting apathetic, even when he wasn't. He knew because he saw that he could actually care.

"OI, Mito." The professor called. "Where's Sakuragi?"

"Probably sleeping in, sir."

"Grrr—and we just called her in, too." He paused and clenched his fist. "That girl would never learn!"

"With all due respect, Sir, neither would you." He stated, and the classed laughed. The professor's head was red with anger.

"Why you—" The old man gulped as much air as he could. "**Mito Yohei,** OUTSIDE _NOW!_"

And Mito did as he was told. He stood up, and coolly walked outside. He could sense his teacher wanted to throw him _something_ hard, but couldn't. The man was afraid he'd throw something even harder.

As Mito stood by the door, he just recalled what he told them. Through the years, he had come more and more objective with it, in the hope that Hanamichi did too.

He closed his eyes.

* * *

It was years ago, a few months before they moved in Kanagawa. Hanamichi was grinning like hell. Despite her inherently hot-headed attitude, she was like most children in the sense that she really loved spending time with her parents. Her mother, an established Interior Designer, always flew abroad leaving her with her dad.

Her dad, though, was a professional basketball player—and that meant as a child she was into basketball, as if it was the only thing she could do. Her life practically revolved around it.

When he trained, she did too. She actually took her masculine name at heart even when she knew she was given such a name because her parents wanted a male for a child.

Hanamichi, fortunately, inherited her father's basketball skills. Their defining red-hair could be good, too, in case she wanted to be a professional. 'The red-headed Sakuragi's' they called themselves and imagined people adoring them.

"Sakuragi-sama is so awesome!" Her father snickered, pretending to be one of his fans. Little Hanamichi nodded and took a poetic pose to play her future fans. Mito always loved watching those two fantasize together.

"Look at their wonderful red hair!"

"Red-headed Tensais! _Banzaaiii!_" They yelled together, catching people at the beach's attentions. They continued laughing like idiots and continued jogging across Chiba's beautiful beach whenever they ran around.

They played together during his free times, and she always come to cheer in his games. In fact—that unfortunate day… they were headed to one of his games. Both of them sort of slept in so they were in a hurry.

It had always happened—and they could not have foreseen the events turned out for the worst.

…

Hanamichi's father died, and her arm was rendered useless for months. She couldn't do anything but brood, but eventually she went into operation and she could use it again.

But the most she could do with it was things like writing and such. By now, she was healed enough to play lightly. So she despised the people who could still play to their fullest, and despised herself for still being unable to get over her father's death. She vented it all on basketball—and she was too stubborn to admit it and change back.

Basketball was the thing that defined her—and now that it was gone, she got lost. All Mito could do was be there for his friend. So when the Sakuragis moved to Kanagawa, he begged his mother to do the same.

_Swish_

He looked at his side. It was Rukawa with quite a bruise and he was pushed out of the door.

"What happened?" he asked and Rukawa ignored him. He just let his back rest on the wall and slept. Mito sighed and peeked through the small window and saw the professor had a bruise on the face.

"You _punched_ the teacher?" He asked incredulously, loud enough to wake him up.

"He woke me up." He said. "And so did you."

"Eh? Wanna fight?" Rukawa coolly stared at him, and he in consequence kept _his_. "I know you want to."

"Baka."

"Whatever." Mito shrugged and went back to staring at the deep blue sky.

"I wonder where she is…"

"How noisy." Rukawa said irritably. He whispered and apparently that woke him up, too.

"Eh… you're worried, too, aren't you?"

"Why would I?" He asked in such a manner that he genuinely didn't know why he would. But Rukawa was very stubborn himself, so Mito decided not to pry. They're big kids now, they could handle these issues by themselves.

He shrugged.

_One day or another…_

* * *

NISPEDANA BEACH RESORT, SOMEWHERE WITHIN KANAGAWA

She cut her classes again. She was not in the mood to go there with that damned superbakakitsune in the premises.

After hours of getting lost and getting on the wrong trains—Sakuragi Hanamichi had finally arrived at the glorious divine invention people call the beach. She always went to the beach as a child, Chiba had nice beaches as well and they were much closer to her home as well.

She walked around the beach and sighed. When her father was home, they used to train in the beach together. She shook the thoughts away. Freaking pink flashbacks were surrounding her again, and she would just look even more idiotic since she was in such a wonderful place.

She walked and walked until she found an isolated spot at a very rocky spot on the beach. She looked at her clothes, and obviously she couldn't jump in with them on. So she took it off and placed them at a relatively safe spot, revealing her undergarments, namely: black cycling shorts and a sleeveless white undershirt.

She jumped in to catch swim around and catch fishes. She swam and swam, diving in here and there soon finding a school several meters away. In retrospect, why did she even say that? Probably because of the sushi. Her dilemma with the free sushi.

Free sushi…

Free sushi. Free sushi. Free sushi.

_Shit_

She wanted free sush—

_Gobble Gobble Gobble_

She blinked. '_What is that?'_ She asked herself as she was about a meter away from the surface. There was a worm. A very attractive looking worm. Hanamichi did not eat worms—but somehow its movements were really adorable.

Maybe she had been underwater for too long.

But she ignored the thought and unconsciously grabbed the worm and the string it was attached to. And then it was abruptly pulled out, and what seemed to be a hook injured her quite deeply.

She went to the surface by instinct and she saw a rather good-looking young man staring at her in befuddlement. He quickly regained himself when he saw the blood. For some reason, his expressions made her heart flutter in very different ways.

"AH! Did I injure you? Oh no." He said, panicking, and then reluctantly held out his hand. She blankly took it with her uninjured one and she was pulled to the cement dock.

They just sat there and he cleared his throat taking off his jacket. It made her flinch, especially when he put the jacket on her. She gaped at him.

"You'll get cold." He smiled making her blush furiously, she tried to calm down. '_He's such a gentleman!'_

"So is it deep?" He asked and she held out her hand to take a look herself. It _was_ deep, but it should be treatable with her first aid-kit. She just placed her hand in the water to wash out the remaining blood. Salt water was said to heal injuries, after all, it was one of the additional bonus of being a delinquent near the beach.

Her attention was caught by the regretful atmosphere the mysterious man wore. "Gomen."

"_I_ grabbed it!" She corrected him rather vehemently making him wince. "I was curious, and you were fishing so it was all my fault."

And after a moment of silence… he laughed.

"HHAHAHA. You're adorable."

_**Doki**_

After wiping tears of laughter, he grinned at her. "You know for a second there, I thought you were a mermaid."

"Ha…" was the only thing she could utter at the moment, and somehow the man misinterpreted it.

"I meant that in a good way though!" He added and then shifted his gaze to her hair. "Your red hair made that even more plausible." He grinned widely with an odd thumbs-up, and her blush simply didn't get anywhere near controlled. She was in complete chibi-mode at the moment, not knowing what was happening to her.

"Is there anything wrong?" He asked worriedly, then just a few inches away from her. And then she moved back, and he looked even more anxious. It somewhat made her feel guilty since it was obvious he wasn't the type to worry too much.

But then, before he could utter a word, his eyes suddenly widened at something behind her. She followed his line of sight and her mouth opened in awe.

The sunset. And it was breathtaking. She soon heard a whistle from behind her.

"Wow."

"Yeah…" She nodded and looked back at him. This time, he gaped at _her_.

"You look very beautiful—especially with the sun in the background." He shook his head. "Ie. You make the sun look prettier than it already was." And he laughed as if it was a natural thing to say.

_Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki_

_D-D-DOOOOOOOOKI_

And she turned around and returned to staring at the sun. Darn he's blunt, assuming he really was thinking that way. And what if he really was? Was she really pretty? No one but her father and Mito said that before…

"Shall we go treat your wound?" He offered when it turned dark, but since her chest was all flittery fluttery when she's with him she could not accept his offer. So instead she handed him his jacket and jumped to the water.

"Eh?" He blinked. "Oi. Miss!"

"It's cold there." She stated shyly. It wasn't exactly a lie, anyway. She apologized for troubling him and went deeper but then—

_SPLASH!_

Her eyes widened and there he was, smiling under the water with her. She couldn't control the bursting in her chest, and found it harder to keep her breath so she surfaced once again and gulped as much air as she could get. He followed her. She winced. _What was up with this guy?!_

"I'm Sendoh, by the way."

"A-Ah."

"What's your name?"

"I… I…"

He just grinned and patted her head. "No need to force yourself to tell me."

"S-Sakuragi Hanamichi."

"I see." He chuckled. "Isn't that a boy's name?"

"It is." She blushed. Normally she wouldn't care… but _now-_

"It's the name of a stage in Kabuki theatres, right? For me, it's the bridge to the main stage- so the audience could feel more connected to it."

'_Ah~'_ She mused with matching hearts. '_How poetic.'_

"I think it suits you nicely, Sakuragi-san." He smiled. Not knowing what he meant, she just returned it.

"You're very pretty."

"S-Stop it." She said. Again… did he even mean it?

And to her surprise, his eyes went wide and she could swear he was blushing as well. "Ah!" He exclaimed. "Gomen. I was told I was… too honest. Gomen."

"…" She scratched her cheeks. This was too embarrassing. "I… It's getting dark now. Ja ne."

And with that, she swam away. So quickly, that Sendoh did not have the chance to retort.

And thus she managed to maintain the little dignity she had left.

* * *

SAKURAGI RESIDENCE

Hanamichi arrived at her home before she even realized it. She was in too much of a daze. Why were there so many cartoony flowers floating around her? What are those? So much cringing in her stomach—and yet she did not dislike it.

_What the hell…_

"Where have you been?" Her mother asked. Not really interrogating, just her usual pompous tone of voice. "A date?"

And for some reason—much to her mother's amusement—she blushed.

"OH MY GOD! Not that I'm not happy or anything." She cackled, then willed herself to wear a serious face. "It's just that you're so _young _and _irresponsible!_"

"Urusai."

"Don't tell me it's an impertinent kid." She said, recalling a certain raven-haired boy.

"Ha?"

"Well, just don't get into a relationship when you're such a klutz! You cut your classes again, didn't you?"

"Che. I wasn't in the mood."

"You can't act like this forever, y'know."

"Nosy old hag."

"Grrrrrr—I dare you say that again!"

"Nosy old hag."

And so a throwing contest begun.

*An hour Later*

After basically a few dozen things in the house was broken, the mother-daughter pair finally sat on the couch and opened the television screen.

"I'm tired."

"Yeah."

"So… tell me about this guy."

Then she went all bubbly again. She just couldn't help it—every time she thought of Sendoh she just felt like she was in heaven. "He's nice, honest, handsome…"

"Eh… you're sure about that? How long have you talked?"

"About 5 minutes."

"Love could blind anyone, though."

"Love." She stiffened. "I'm in_ love_?" And her mother grinned smugly.

"Yes. Yes, you are."

So that was it. Hanamichi Sakuragi was in love with this… Sendoh.

**…**

_Awchoo!_

"Ara? Akira?" his mother called passing him a tissue. "You caught a cold?"

"Aniki arrived home all wet. I had to clean up his mess." A little boy with honey-brown hair stated proudly. And their mother giggled patting his head.

"Good boy you are, Aiki."

He grinned. "I know." But then he turned to his brother and muttered something.

"And to think he still had the time to buy a rod…"

"Rod?" the woman blinked and looked around. "Oh! But… red? Red doesn't suit you."

Akira gaped at her. "Really?"

"Yeah. Why the sudden change in preference?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "The color suddenly got interesting."

.  
.

**END OF CHAPTER 5**

_**Coming Soon:  
**_**CHAPTER 6: Development**

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**REPLIES TO ANGELS**

**Hiken08- **Thank you for the review! I'm so happy you liked it and I hope this update didn't disappoint. xD

**MisSs005-** Hahahha. I'm glad you enjoyed it and that I somehow managed to keep the general flow. heheh. Thanks for the review!

**mrsklemzak- **I think it will be more than 10 chaps. xD And Banzai for the army! They're one of my faves in the canon and I'll try to give them more screen time. xD Thanks for the review~

**Guest [2/5/13]- **Thank you for the review! And gosh *blush* I'm glad you think I'm a good writer~! xD

**hitomi65- **Glad you liked it and thank you for the review!

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Thank you for reading!

It would be nice if you pause for a few more minutes and  
let me know your thoughts! :)


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